Abstract
Arts-based methods have been successfully implemented for a variety of health professionals with limited application for surgical trainees. As a highly visual and technical field, surgery is ripe for novel applications of arts-based pedagogies. This study aims to develop, implement, and describe the feasibility of a pilot arts-based curriculum for general surgery trainees to enhance visual analysis, interpersonal communication, and team dynamics. General surgery trainees at one institution participated in two arts-based workshops (2024-2025), which involved a facilitated discussion observing a specific artwork (i.e., VTS, Whole-Part-Detail), a paired drawing exercise (i.e., blind-contour drawing, back-to-back drawing), a reflective exercise—the Personal Responses Tour, and concluded with a facilitated debrief connecting activities back to participants’ surgical training. A control survey was administered prior to gather data on 13 skills. A post-intervention survey was administered to gather reported improvement in the same 13 skills. There were 26 control and 22 intervention participants. Of 13 skills assessed, there was a statistically significant difference in participants’ ability to work on a team(p-value 0.04), make personal connections with others(p=0.02), respect different viewpoints(p=0.049), reflect on experiences(p=0.03), have a personal sense of wellbeing(p=0.02), and appreciate art(p=0.0001) with significantly greater improvement in the intervention group. Compared to the standard curriculum, this arts-based curriculum significantly improved several critical skills. Our pilot study demonstrates that an integrated arts-based curriculum for general surgery trainees can enhance core competency acquisition including interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism, practice-based learning, and patient care.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Visual Art, Surgical Education, Humanities, Museum Education, Humanistic Medicine
